Visiting the Wakefield Rhubarb Festival
It’s that time of year again where the city of Wakefield in West Yorkshire gets super excited as they welcome the fabulous Rhubarb Festival. Organised by Wakefield Council, the festival celebrates the city’s long history with the sour, sweet pink vegetable. It takes place every February and features a huge variety of market stalls selling a wide range of food and drink. There are many unique rhubarb goodies on offer, all with tastings of course. Wrapped up by an exciting entertainment programme including cookery demonstrations, street performers, comedy acts and live music, the Wakefield Rhubarb Festival is a vibrant addition to Yorkshire’s calendar. I visited in 2019, completely by accident I might add, and it ended up being the best part of my weekend away. Here’s why you should consider visiting the Wakefield Rhubarb Festival.
First of all – cast aside your thoughts on whether you like rhubarb or not. Like many, you may have only experienced it in its stewed form in crumbles and pies, usually rather sharp and sour despite the amount of sugar added. This was my main experience of rhubarb and I have to say I was rather ambivalent about it. Rhubarb crumble is nice enough, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to find one on a menu. The Wakefield Rhubarb Festival completely changed my opinion!
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Why Rhubarb in Wakefield?
Wakefield is part of the Rhubarb Triangle. This refers to a 9-square-mile triangle in West Yorkshire between Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell, well-known for producing early forced rhubarb. Apparently the rhubarb plant thrives in the wet cold Yorkshire winters so Wakefield and its surroundings are the perfect location for it.
At the peak of the industry the Rhubarb Triangle reached as far as Bradford and Leeds and towards the end of the 19th century a special express train transported rhubarb down to London every weekday night during the growing season to hit the various London markets. This became known as the Rhubarb Express and it could carry up to 200 tons of rhubarb.
Rhubarb became less popular after the Second World War due to more exotic fruits becoming available. However in 2010, the farmers who farm within the Rhubarb Triangle were awarded Protected Designation of Origin Status (PDO) thus protecting the Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb name.
So, How Did I End Up Visiting the Wakefield Rhubarb Festival?
Well, everyone has a bucket list don’t they or at least an idea of some of the things they want to do or places they want to visit in life. Well, on mine is a wish to visit all UK cities, preferably in the not too distant future. Living in the north west of England, Wakefield is not exactly far to travel – just the other side of the Pennines. However it’s a place that has somehow remained stubbornly out of reach; until 2019 when I decided to make a weekend trip to Wakefield, primarily to visit the cathedral and the Hepworth Gallery.
It was only when my Mum and I arrived and were walking up the main street from where we’d parked, we realised something was going on. Before we knew it we were weaving amongst a throng of people and market stalls. Completely by accident, I’d managed to time our trip with the annual Rhubarb Festival.
Well, I have to tell you – initially I was peeved as I couldn’t get an uninterrupted view of the cathedral with all the wooden chalets in the way! However – I love a food festival and it wasn’t long before going inside the cathedral was pushed back to later in the day and we were darting amongst stalls enjoying all the tastings on offer. Nearly all the stalls had rhubarb flavoured products and all offered tasters. Before I knew it I was buying products right, left and centre as I discovered I actually rather like rhubarb!
The Sweet Stuff
What I really loved about the Wakefield Rhubarb Festival was the huge variety of stalls. There are over 60 stalls and no one thing was really missing.
Who knew that gourmet marshmallows were a thing? Malvavisco – that’s who. The marshmallows by these guys are a revelation especially the chocolate orange ones. Trouble is – you will never want to go back to normal marshmallows again. Fab that I’ve discovered they are now available online!
My sweet tooth was certainly in overdrive, tasting lots of chocolates, fudge and other sweet treats. The rhubarb and ginger gin flavoured fudge by Por Favour was divine – so smooth and creamy and not stupidly sweet like a lot of fudge.
My discovery of North Chocolates (based in Newcastle) lead to me not just buying 6 bars of chocolate at the festival (3 for £11 was just so tempting) but I’ve ordered a few times online after the event too. Thank heavens for the internet is all I can say. Their ruby rhubarb chocolate is sublime. Naturally pink in colour using the ruby cocoa bean, I wouldn’t normally have tried it, but at a food festival you just have to, don’t you? I don’t know how to describe the flavour – I certainly wouldn’t have said it was rhubarb if I was doing a blind taste test that’s for sure. All I know is that it was goooood! And I am addicted to their lime and sea-salt milk chocolate. My taste buds were in 7th heaven.
Chutney Highway
Food and drink festivals are always the place to try out new and interesting preserves and chutneys. The Wakefield Rhubarb Festival did not disappoint in this department.
Jilly’s Larder didn’t just have one rhubarb product but six, mixing their rhubarb preserves with strawberry, raspberry, gooseberry, ginger and gin as well as plain rhubarb.
Bracken Hill Yorkshire Preserves did the same with their chutneys and I could easily have taken home one of each as I am a chutney fanatic; however I contented myself with just one – rhubarb with apricot and stem ginger. You should see my chutney cupboard, yes – a whole cupboard… I really don’t need to buy any more for a while. (Sssh, don’t tell Mr TJG I said that – he might hold me to it!)
The Yorkshire Emporium based in Holmfirth brought a rhubarb ketchup to the mix. Now that was different! I loved the Yorkshire lingo on their products: the by ‘eck range of sauces made me want to buy them just from the name alone.
I also discovered Screaming Chimp Chilli Sauce, based in Durham. But more to the point, Mr TJG is happy I discovered them as I bought several bottles home for him. Most were too hot for me, but if you like your relishes hot hot hot, Screaming Chimp is the company to try out.
Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil
The Yorkshire counties are known for their rapeseed. I remember travelling to Scarborough on family holidays as a child and seeing field after field of bright yellow. I use a lot of oils mainly to dip artisan breads into with balsamic, and Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil is by far the best in my opinion. As you can imagine, I was ecstatic to be able to stock up on my oils from Yorkshire Drizzle and from Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil themselves. Their mint and balsamic dressing is out of this world and their mayonnaise is the nicest mayo I think I’ve ever tasted.
All the Gin!
There was certainly no shortage of gin producers at the festival, all with their own take on rhubarb gin. Unfortunately this is one rhubarb product I’m not a fan of. However if you are, there are lots of local ones to sample, from Whitby Gin, Hedgerow who do a gin with rhubarb and raspberry to Raisthorpe who do a rhubarb gin liqueur. Now gin liqueurs are more up my street. The Little Red Berry Company produces several different vodka and gin liqueurs as well as a rhubarb and sweet cicely flavoured gin. The gin liqueur that left with me however was the super tasty one by Luddenden Valley Wines. Their rhubarb wine was rather nice too.
There is even a pink gin created especially for the Wakefield Rhubarb Festival by a local beer house in nearby Ossett (Bier Huis). You may even catch of glimpse of Dame Ruby herself doing the rounds of the market stalls. Bier Huis have their own stall in the market which has all sorts of craft ales, beers and ciders, many featuring rhubarb.
This is just a small sample of the kinds of things you’ll find amongst the market stalls at the Wakefield Rhubarb Festival. From pies and pasties to pistachios and pastries; there’s lots of ‘on the go’ foods you can buy as well as street food vendors serving a variety of take-away from exotic burgers and sausages to vegan wraps and platters with halloumi fries. There is literally something for every taste bud out there. The rhubarb and salmon curry from here was fabulous!
Not Just a Street Food Market
There is a lot more to the Wakefield Rhubarb Festival than the traditional food market. Back in 2020, an arts and crafts market was added to the festival, situated along Market Walk next to Trinity Walk shopping centre. There was a number of stalls there selling a range of unique wares including jewellery, home ware, artwork and toiletries. Rhubarb bath bomb anyone?
Cookery Demo Marquee
There is a demo marquee situated on the Bullring which shows cookery demonstrations by celebrity chefs and local culinary talent. The marquee is heated and seated but not ticketed, so it’s a case of first come first served. In 2023, demos will run from 11 – 3pm and will feature Great British Bake Off 2018 contestant Karen Wright, Great British Menu chef Bobby Geetha, MasterChef finalist Radha Kaushal-Bolland and Great British Bake Off 2021 finalist Crystelle Pereira. Local restaurants will also showcase their best rhubarb themed recipes.
The Rhu-Bar Tent & Live Music
This yurt situated in the Bullring was new to the Rhubarb Festival in 2019 and was so popular it continues to return. As the title suggests, all manner of alcoholic and soft drinks are served including rhubarb gins, cocktails and local ales. With it being February, it’s thankfully heated too.
Also in the Rhu-Bar there is live music on throughout the festival. In the 2019 and 2020 festivals, there was a folk feel to the music on the Friday, a line-up of local legends on the Saturday and laid-back acoustic music on the Sunday from the Wakefield Music Collective. I cannot find information about the 2023 line up but I would think it would be something similar.
Live Comedy at the Wakefield Rhubarb Festival
The Rhubarb Festival trialled a comedy club event on the Friday night in 2019. It was a huge success, so the comedy club returned on both the Friday and Saturday nights in 2020. These events ran in the Rhu-Bar yurt from 7 – 11pm each night.
Street Performers
I can guarantee you’ll see some great street performers in and around the cathedral square particularly over the festival weekend. They’ll be a whole variety of dances showcased, but my favourites were a Morris dancing group and a rapper sword dancing troupe.
The latter is fascinating and mesmerising to watch. If you don’t know what rapper swords are – they are flexible metal strips with a handle at both ends. A rapper troupe is usually made up of 5 or 6 persons, each holding the end of their neighbour’s sword in a circle. A dance is created by weaving intricate patterns, circling and intertwining without breaking the circle or letting go of the swords, except at the end when the swords are interlocked to form a star which is then held up by the leader. Each time this happened huge applause broke out amongst the gathered crowd.
Other Places to Sample Rhubarb Goodies
Many of the local eateries, bars, cafes and restaurants jump on the rhubarb band wagon, so there’s always somewhere to go and sit to eat or grab a cuppa outside of the market area which at peak times of day become very crowded.
You can pick up a festival guide from various stalls when you get there and it will detail all the places that are serving rhubarb related foods and drinks. We went to Cafe Marmalade, located on the corner of the Bullring where we indulged in rhubarb scones – my my, they were tasty!
There will be plenty of cafes serving rhubarb crumble and several had rhubarb tea on their menus, so you’ll be spoilt for choice.
Wakefield Rhubarb Festival Fringe
Yes – a bit like Edinburgh, Wakefield has its own Rhubarb Fringe with events taking place before and during the festival at locations around the city. The various libraries around the district will host special cookery sessions, plays, writing workshops and story times. Wakefield Cathedral, Trinity Walk and The Ridings Shopping Centre will put on creative workshops and demonstrations specifically aimed at children.
You can even visit a Yorkshire Rhubarb Forcing Shed at Oldroyds and tour the facility, learning about the history of Yorkshire Rhubarb and how the forcing process was developed enabling rhubarb to be grown out of season. Oldroyds is located 5 miles north of Wakefield and tours only run between January and March, costing £7.50 for adults and £5.00 for children, aged 5-13. Under 5’s are not allowed unfortunately. NOTE: These tours are not available in the 2023 season due to renovation of visitor facilities, however you will be able to book for 2024 from this summer.
If you can’t make it out to Oldroyds, you can learn about Yorkshire rhubarb at the Wakefield Museum and even listen to the sound that forcing rhubarb makes.
2023 Wakefield Rhubarb Festival Details
Dates & Times
Food Market: Friday 17th & Saturday 18th – 10am – 5pm | Sunday 19th – 10am – 4pm
Car Parking
There are plenty of car parks around the city – I chose to park at Turton Street car park for £2.50 all day. From here it was an easy walk up Kirkgate to the cathedral. The open area in front of the cathedral is the centre of all the action with stalls extending along Teal Street and Teal Way up to Trinity Walk and along North Street to the Bullring. Here’s a list and map of all car parking sites in Wakefield.
As you can see, there’s a ton to experience during the Wakefield Rhubarb Festival. It certainly overtook my weekend in Wakefield, in a good way I hasten to add. I spent way too much money and discovered some amazing products, all from the north of England. Who knew that rhubarb could be so versatile!! The ambivalence I felt towards this vegetable before going turned into love. I still visited the Wakefield Cathedral and The Hepworth, both of which I loved, but it was the food festival that really made the weekend for me.
So, how about you…. Are you a food festival goer? If so, which food festivals can you recommend and have you ever been to the rhubarb festival? Please drop me a line in the comments below – I’d love to hear from you.
Further Yorkshire Reading
Here’s all the great reasons why you should visit Wakefield Cathedral – home to the best misericords in the country!
Discover the geological wonder that is Brimham Rocks in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Go chasing waterfalls in Ingleton on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
Walk to the delightful Lumb Hole Falls from Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire
When bluebell season arrives, there’s no better place to see them than at Beningbrough Hall and Gardens.
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Trish | 16th Feb 20
Well I didn’t expect this – Wakefield the rhubarb capital of England! I love the idea of the festival – how brilliant you happen to have visited at the right time!
I used to love fresh rhubarb from our garden when I was little (north east of England so it was obviously good conditions for it!).
Tilly Horseman | 16th Feb 20
I know, tell me about it – Right place, right time hey!!
My parents have always grown rhubarb, hence the rhubarb crumbles, but I could never eat it raw. I saw rhubarb sticks in pots of sugar being sold at the festival and people walking around eating it like that. Wow – their mouths must have been super tingly afterwards!
Lois Cordelia | 14th Feb 20
How fascinating! I had no idea! 🙂
Tilly Horseman | 16th Feb 20
No I didn’t either until I arrived there last year! lol… I’d heard of the Rhubarb Triangle, knew it was in Yorkshire, but had no idea there was a whole festival! It was a lot of fun! x